136 



SAURIA. — SCINCID^. 



That its muscular powers are great, there is no 

 doubt, and that its blunt teeth would painfully 

 bruise the flesh, and produce an injury perhaps 

 more difficult to be healed than even a lacerated 







f^'-l 



■^'m^^L^KiZ 





-■ylA,'''., -- 



GALLY-WASP. 



wound, is not improbable. With all our inquiries 

 made in the island, we have never been able to 

 trace any direct accounts of serious mischief done 

 by this animal ; and those which seemed most 

 circumstantial of second-hand narratives are such 

 as in a great degree may be accounted for by 

 the imagination, — the fears of the patient, in the 

 case of a bite, being very highly excited. The 

 creature is acknowledged, however, to be inoffen- 

 sive, biting only in self-defence, when accidentally 

 trodden on, or attacked. 



